ARTEMIS FOWL - The Eternity Code

In the third Artemis Fowl instalment the 13-year-old criminal mastermind takes on his most cunning adversary yet — American billionaire Jon Spiro, owner of the high-tech firm Fission Chips. While recuperating Artemis Fowl’s father, AF Senior, stuns all with his pronouncement that he wants the family to turn over a new leaf and stay on the right side of the law. Not surprisingly Artemis has other plans for one last heist, after which the Fowls will become a law abiding family. Anyway Artemis had been planning the job long before his father’s damascene conversion to all things legal. Anyway, what could go wrong? Everything, as it turns out. Artemis’s scheme to extract one metric ton of gold from Spiro, in exchange for keeping the C Cube, a mega computer (built from parts stolen from the fairies), off the market, implodes spectacularly. In order to save Butler, his bodyguard, and set things back to rights in the fairy world, Artemis joins forces with Butler’s sister Juliet and drafts the help of his nemesis Captain Holly Short, Foaly the computer nerd and the breezy, dwarf Mulch Diggums. The die is cast for all kinds of interwoven mayhem that culminates with the climactic break-in at Chicago’s Spiro Needle.

Another Artemis exploit that matches the action and suspense of the first two Artemis Fowl books. Twists and turns get better as Artemis schemes his way into Spiro’s lair, and the novel slaps readers with a mind-spinning finale. Like a fine wine, Fowl’s brilliance gets better with age.

It’s hard to imagine a summer reading book that’s more fun.

In this third installment to Eoin Colfer's funny, fast-paced, fairy-filled adventure series, boy genius and arch criminal Artemis Fowl once again can't resist plotting the perfect crime--and, once again, he can't keep from stirring up so much trouble that the fate of the entire fairy world teeters in the balance.

The once hard-boiled Artemis has softened a bit between his bestselling debut and the seat-of-your-pants Arctic Incident, and that trend continues in The Eternity Code: He's still plotting for a billion-dollar-plus payoff for the Fowl family, but now his enemies are human (chiefly Jon Spiro, a ruthless businessman Artemis tries to blackmail using stolen fairy technology) and he has to turn to his old adversary-turned-friend Captain Holly Short and cutpurse dwarf Mulch Diggums for help. The dialogue and action prove as smart and page-turning as ever this time around, with Artemis struggling to bring his faithful bodyguard Butler back from the dead before racing Mission Impossible-style to triple-cross the double-crossing Spiro.

Colfer's young antihero might be getting more likeable all the time, but that hasn't taken the edge off the Tom-Clancy-meets-Harry-Potter action. Artemis has to agree to a memory-erasing "mind wipe" from the People after helping them recover their technology, but only a foolish fan would count Artemis out after this blockbuster "final heist." Book four can't come soon enough.... (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes